APPENDIX 15
Note by Assistant Clerk on Committee visit
to Preston and Blackpool on Tuesday, 20 October 1998[54]
1. FAMILY CREDIT
HELPLINE, WARBRECK
HOUSE, BLACKPOOL
Family Credit Helpline
John Tirrell, Manager of the Helpline, introduced
Gail Bone, one of the unit managers. Gail Bone then gave a presentation
on the history and working of the helpline.
History
Family Credit was launched in April 1988. The
Central Telephone Answering Service (CTAS) was introduced to deal
with enquiries. CTAS had 20 lines and 14 staff. Its opening hours
were 8.30 am to 5 pm.
In 1990 Call Scan was introduceda computerised
system which kept track of all incoming calls and produced daily
printouts of call handling times, volume of call traffic etc.
There were 40 lines and 28 agent positions. In 1992 with a need
for further expansion the revolutionary idea of recruiting for
part-time, fixed hour staff was introduced. This was a job specific,
external recruitment. An in-house training course of one week
was devised to train staff in telephone techniques, customer service
and all aspects of the benefit rules and regulations.
In late 1992 the then Government announced the
Back to Work initiative. With the increased volume of calls that
this was likely to result in, a complete overhaul of CTAS was
required. Automated Call Distribution (ACD) was introduced. ACD
enabled more accurate monitoring of calls. The Family Credit Helpline
had been re-launched by Alistair Burt in April 1993.
Helpline today
There are 100 incoming lines and 188 staff (equivalent
to 133.497 full-time workers due to the large number of part-time
workers).
Between 55,000 and 60,000 calls are answered
each week. Only 2 per cent of all calls are transferred to Operational
Commands, illustrating the efficiency of the helpline.
There are dedicated lines for District Offices,
Welfare Rights Organisations, Citizens Advice Bureaux, and Job
Seekers' Allowance/Child Support Agency staff. There is a textphone
for the hearing impaired.
The Family Credit helpline:
has a call back service for Self-Employed
customers (because of the complexity of their enquiries);
offers foreign language call backs;
has the ability to provide benefit
entitlement estimates through the Integrated Benefit Information
System (IBIS);
issues duplicate forms/award notices;
has a tagging facility which enables
accurate monitoring of calls;
conducts a Quarterly Customer Opinion
Survey;
has a highly skilled training team;
has regular liaison meetings with
other Call Centresto share best practice.
In the year ending April 1998, approximately
4.5 million calls were receivedof which 3 million were
answered. There are a large number of repeat calls. The average
call time was 2 minutes.
Issues raised in discussion
there is no evidence that the full
cost of the telephone calls is a disincentive. Many callers telephone
from work;
most calls are meaningfulperhaps
reflecting the fact that the calls are being paid for at the full
national rate;
despite the passage of time, the
helpline is still state-of-the-art. In particular, the caller
who has been waiting for the longest period of time is automatically
selected;
staff will need to work extra hours
in future because of the change over to the Inland Revenue. This
will not present a problem because of the large number of part-time
workers.
There followed a tour of the helpline in which
Members were given the opportunity to listen in on live calls.
Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance
Mick Carey, Director of Family Credit and Disability
Working Allowance, gave a presentation on the two units (see Annex
for the text of the presentation). Mr Carey made several additional
points in response to questions from Members.
The fact that the administration of the two
benefits is centralised means that the units are responsive to
change. Systems can be developed and monitored centrally.
The Secretary of State's target focusses on
accuracy (as opposed to speed). The target is for 91 per cent
of cases to be paid the right amount of money. This target has
been reached in the year-to-date (the current figure is 92 per
cent).
In terms of the Securing Family Credit project,
the most significant area of fraud is in the confirmation of employees
wages by employers. Checks are not carried out with the Inland
Revenue. This is because Family Credit is based on the current
wage at the time of the claim, whereas the Inland Revenue looks
at wages retrospectively. This area is being looked at with the
imminent move to the Inland Revenue.
The Benefits Agency can and does carry out checks
with employers. It is, however, very difficult to check on the
level of wages and number of hours worked at the time of the claim.
There has not been a thorough investigation of fraud because it
is only recently that it has become a big issue. Moreover, it
would be very costly to visit all claimants.
There is a tension between the need to address
fraud and the need for efficient and rapid processing of claims.
Trying to check details at the time of payment would make it very
difficult to achieve the internal target of processing new claims
within 5 days. As a result, claims are checked after payment.
Mr Carey's final point was that his view and
that of both independent organisations and benefit claimants is
that the Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance operations
are of a very high quality.
Working Family Tax Credit (WFTC)
Sue Walsh, Director of the WFTC, gave a presentation
on the structure of the project and the manner in which it was
being planned and taken forward. Several points arose in response
to questions from Members.
Different areas of expertise from the Inland
Revenue and the DSS are being brought together in the fight against
fraud. The various risks and options are being looked at. It is
important, however, that the issue of fraud is balanced against
the aim of encouraging people back into work.
Tony Ornhial from the Inland Revenue said that
confidential consultations have occurred with employer organisations.
The Inland Revenue will soon be able to put together a package
of proposals for bringing employers on board which will be presented
to Ministers.
2. FAMILY CREDIT
OPERATION COMMAND,
PRESTON
Phil Moore, Acting Head of Family Credit and
Disability Working Allowance Operations, and Caroline Davies,
Manger of Command 12, spoke about the working of their section
and answered questions. John Heath gave a presentation on the
Departmental Central Index (DCI).
Operational Command 12
There are peaks in workload in April and October.
The introduction of WFTC in October 1999 is likely to result in
a very high workload.
The biggest difficulty faced is the fact that
the 16-page claim form is rarely completed in full.
There are some difficulties with employers.
These are often dealt with by the Customer Service Section.
There is a high turnover of staffthough
many do remain within the DSS. The levels of sickness vary from
4.5 per cent to 7.6 per cent between sections. Benefit Agency
guidelines exist in this area and the Family Credit Unit is developing
its own guidelines within the constraints of those of the Benefit
Agency as a whole. There is acknowledgement by management that
more effort needs to be made with graduates. Management is focussing
on improving working relations.
The implications of Scottish devolution are
being addressed.
The Members were shown examples of a claim form
being processed.
Targets
|
Accuracy | 91 per cent
|
Express Clearance | 90 per cent in 5 days (for new claims)
|
Renewal Clearance | 60 per cent in 13 days
|
| 95 per cent in 42 days
|
Appeals Clearance | 69 per cent in 28 days
|
94 per cent in 90 days |
|
Reviews Clearance | 65 per cent in 16 days
|
85 per cent in 30 days |
|
The Departmental Central Index (DCI)
The job of the DCI is to trace the National Insurance number
of the claimant as a way of confirming identification. It is possible
to discover the benefits history of a claimant.
If a record cannot be found, the customer is invited to the
local office. Only 6 out of 6,000 claimants invited to their local
office were found to have an NI number. This illustrates the efficiency
of the DCI.
Inland Revenue records are based on tax record numbers (not
NI numbers). So the addition of tax record numbers to DCI would
be useful with the introduction of the WFTC.
The Members were given a demonstration of the working of
the Departmental Central Index.
Peter Shelley
22 October 1998
54
Members taking part in the visit were: Mr Archy Kirkwood (Chairman),
Mr Edward Leigh and Mr Malcolm Wicks. Back
|